The loosely intertwined stories of three separate teenage runaways who concurrently end up in the counter-culture Old Town of Chicago is presented, each, generally good from what would be considered a financially comfortable environment, who ran away for a different reason, but each who is ill prepared for life starting from scratch on his or her own. Deanie Donford is escaping from the control wielded by her shrewish, holier-than-thou mother who believes every action Deanie does is an invitation for sex. Dewey Norson is being threatened by a girl he does not love regarding her pregnancy - he who may or may not be the father - something he felt he could not tell his parents despite having a good relationship with them. And Shelly Allen feels like her widowed advertising executive father, Raymond Marquis Allen, is more interested in her as a test case for his work than as a daughter who he truly loves and understands. The three end up in different situations in the Old Town, some supportive, some less so, and some which outwardly are so but mask a hidden nefarious agenda in preying on the vulnerability of runaways who are looking for that support just to get by.